The Livingston enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1914, 1887-10-15
Synopsis of the Governors Message.

Governor LcSne mas SuDmltteQ MS an
nual report to the secretary of the inter-
ior, from which the following interesting
synopsis is taken. In the opening of the
report the governor pays handsome trib-
ute to the early pioneers who first crossed
the plains years ago with OK teams, en-
during all manner of hardshlps and dan
gers to settle in Montana. Speaking of
our population, the governor says, we
have no reliable means of determining
just how many people there are in this
territory. From the best information
that could be obtained, last year the num-
Der was set down at 100000. There has
been probably an increase of 100000
during the present year, making the pres
ent population aoout 100000.
The most conservative industry, and
the one best calculated of all to yield the
necessaries and comforts of life, and the
most certain to produce hardy, virtuous
and patriotic people, is agriculture. 1t
is not, then, an unmixed evil that the
great loss of stock during the last severe
winter has turned the attention of our
people more fully to ordinary farming.
The conviction is becoming very strong
that it is not safe to trust cattle on the
range without some provision for their
support when the grass is short and
the weather is so excessively severe; for
when these conditions arrive it is too late
to obtain the needed food. There are no
neighboring communities whose surplus
could be obtained; and in fact the surplus
of no state would have been sufficient to
save the many thousands which perlshed
of starvation last winter; and, besides,
there IS grave question Of humanity in
volved in this business. Such sufferings,
even of dumb brutes, make an irresistible
appeal to every human heart. These facts
have led our people to make more liveral
provisions for the production of forage;
larger quantities of hay and grain have been
cut and stored for the coming winter.
Farms suitable for the production of hay
and grain are in greater demand, large
areas have been fenced in, and numerous
bitches and canals have been constructed,
and others projected, which will greatly
extend the area of cultivated and yielding
land. The present season has been most
favorable for the production of all our
staple crops. There has been full and
sufficient rain to produce fair crops of
oats, barley, wheat, indian corn, potatos,
peas, and garden products without irriga-
ton. The yields without irrigation are
up to eighty bushels for oats, sixty-five
for wheat, forty for corn, and two to
three hundred bushels per acre for pota-
toes; and there has been this year very
abundant crop of the small fruits. The
increase of rainfall and the new canals,
with the loss of range stock last winter,
have given a new impulse to regular
farming in Montana.
Prior to the present year the industry
of stockraising was in most prosperous
condition m Montana, but the last terrible
winter was most disastrous. The short
ness of the grass crop consequent upon
the drouth of the preceding summer, com
bined with the deep snow and excessive
cold of the winter, destroyed range cattle
IN numbers amounting to very many
thousands. Horses suffered much less
than cattle, as they have better organi-
zation for digging in the snow, and sheep
still less than horses, for the most of them
had feed and shelter The lessons taught
bv the losses of the year have turned the
attention of the stockmen more generally
to the production of grasses and other
forage plants. More hay has been put up
the present season than ever before.
The following is the estimated number
of domestic animals by the assessors Of
the several counties of the territory, aud
other reliable sources, for the present
year, towit: Cattle, 100000; horses.
100, 900; sheep, 100000. The grade of
cattle, horses and sheep in this territory
is of high order, and every farmer,
ranchman and stockgrower is striving to
improve and gather sill better class of
stock. The wool gathered this year from
the sheep in this territory has principally |
been shipped and sold and must have
produced over one million dollars. while
the income from the sales of horses aud
beet cattle has been large and full of re-
The total assessed value of |
the taxable property for the present year
is sixty million two hundred thousand
dollars.
Of all industrial pursuits, mining con-
tinues to be the leading occupation of
this people. From the first settlement to
the present time, mining has been the great
interest of Montana, and the progress of
this industry has been constant and rapid
through all the business and commercial
vicissitudes to the present time, notwith-
the low prlce of silver, copper
and lead. More money has been invested. |